New doctoral thesis: “Can a small island be sustainable? The role of material stocks and livestock in shaping the sociometabolic transition of the past, present and future on the Greek island Samothraki”
Dr. Dominik Noll successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled: “Can a small island be sustainable? The role of material stocks and livestock in shaping the sociometabolic transition of the past, present and future on the Greek island Samothraki” on 22. November 2021 at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria. This doctoral thesis was supervised by Prof. Marina Fischer-Kowalski (in collaboration with Dr. Dominik Wiedenhofer). The external examiner of this work was Prof. Marian R. Chertow, Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale School of the Environment, USA. This thesis is empirically capturing the effects of the global sociometabolic transition on the socioecological system of a small Greek island. By applying the conceptual framework of Sociometabolic Research (SMR) to the local island level, it was possible to reconstruct the biophysical economy for the island Samothraki from 1929 – 2019. The 5 texts contained in this cumulative thesis are dedicated to achieving an academic goal while at the same time contributing to a transdisciplinary process on the local level. This thesis aims at advancing the field of sociometabolic research by providing a systematic assessment of material use, dynamics of biophysical stocks, and material output in terms of waste and emissions over a timespan of 90 years in a mass balanced way. Beyond this empirical core, all texts are directed towards an assessment of key environmental pressures, their underlying socioeconomic drivers, and recommendations for the long-term reduction of these pressures.
Published articles as part of the cumulative doctoral thesis:
Noll, Dominik, Christian Lauk, Willi Haas, Simron Jit Singh, Panos Petridis, and Dominik Wiedenhofer. 2021. “The Sociometabolic Transition of a Small Greek Island: Assessing Stock Dynamics, Resource Flows, and Material Circularity from 1929 to 2019.” Journal of Industrial Ecology, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13206.
Noll, Dominik, Christian Lauk, Veronika Gaube, and Dominik Wiedenhofer. 2020. “Caught in a Deadlock: Small Ruminant Farming on the Greek Island of Samothrace. The Importance of Regional Contexts for Effective EU Agricultural Policies.” Sustainability 12 (3): 762. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030762.
Noll, Dominik, Dominik Wiedenhofer, Alessio Miatto, and Simron Jit Singh. 2019. “The Expansion of the Built Environment, Waste Generation and EU Recycling Targets on Samothraki, Greece: An Island’s Dilemma.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 150 (November): 104405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104405.
Fetzel, Tamara, Panos Petridis, Dominik Noll, Simron Jit Singh, and Marina Fischer-Kowalski. 2018. “Reaching a Socio-Ecological Tipping Point: Overgrazing on the Greek Island of Samothraki and the Role of European Agricultural Policies.” Land Use Policy 76 (July): 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.04.042.
Petridis, Panos, Simron Jit Singh, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, and Dominik Noll. 2017. “The Role of Science in Sustainability Transitions: Citizen Science, Transformative Research, and Experiences from Samothraki Island, Greece.” Island Studies Journal, no. Vol. 12: 115–34.